Easy Cupcakes

I first saw this idea, using a circus peanut candy as a carrot, in Parents magazine. It’s so easy! If you don’t have stand-style licorice or fruit candy in green, just cut strips of a fruit roll.

What You Need: cupcake; white frosting; orange circus peanut; green fruit candy strips; something to poke a hole with (bamboo skewer, toothpick, etc.)

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Poke hole in end of circus peanut. Insert several strips of fruit roll.

My son was invited to a birthday party at a movie theater, and the mom had made these great popcorn cupcakes. The technique is similar to that seen in the Hello, Cupcake! book and Family Fun magazine: Snip mini marshmallows in half (or leave a few intact) and arrange on top of a cupcake that you’ve wrapped in popcorn bag paper. You can even drizzle yellow frosting “butter” on them if you’d like. What a great theme!

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white frosting; mini marshmallows; printer paper; transparent tape, popcorn artwork (Google!).

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Wrap cupcake with popcorn-themed wrapper. Secure with tape. Arrange marshmallows to look like popcorn.

Add the look of “Indian” corn to your harvest table with these easy Thanksgiving cupcakes that look like an ear of dried corn.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; yellow frosting; green sprinkles; assorted fall color Jelly Belly jelly beans; paper and scissors to make a template.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Cut a wedge shape from scrap paper to use as a template or “mask” and set it on the cupcake as you sprinkle the rest of the cupcake, forming a corn husk shape. Then remove paper and arrange jelly beans, either skinny side up (like this) or the other way.

It’s 105 degrees where I live, so the thought of the beach sounds refreshing. I’d even go for a tropical island, if it came with a cool ocean breeze. These cupcakes are perfect for a beach party, Hawaiian luau or birthday party.

What You Need: 1 cupcake; white or off-white frosting; toast coconut flakes; 2 banana candies (such as Runts); black food-safe marker; paper umbrella.

How to Make Them: Toast coconut by spreading on cookie sheet and baking in 350-degree oven for 5 to 10 minutes (be careful not to overcook!). Let cool. Frost cupcake. Use black food-safe marker to draw black lines and spots on bananas (optional). Sprinkle cupcake with coconut. Add bananas and umbrella.

For any summer party, including Fourth of July festivities, consider these easy, somewhat abstract watermelon cupcakes. The “seeds” are chocolate sprinkles!

What You Need: 1 cupcake; green cupcake liner; frosting tinted green; white frosting; red sugar sprinkles; chocolate sprinkles.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake green. Drop and spread a dollop of white frosting to about half an inch from the edge. Sprinkle with red sugar, almost to edge of white. Add chocolate sprinkles for watermelon seeds.

Cupcakes that look like apples would be a nice treat for the last day of school, or for a favorite teacher (for non-favorite teachers, add a gummy worm).

What You Need: 1 cupcake; icing tinted red; red sugar or sprinkles; candy spearmint leaf; scissors.

How to Make It: Frost cupcake. Sprinkle with red sugar. The spearmint leaf is probably quite thick; use scissors to cut it in half or in thirds (you can use one of the other pieces on a second cupcake.) That’s it!

I made a batch of these cupcakes for my husband’s birthday using carrot cake mix and canned cream cheese frosting. I’m not a fan of carrot cake, but I thought these came out pretty cool, with very little effort.
What You Need: 1 cupcake; cream cheese frosting; icing tinted orange; icing tinted green.
How to Make It: I found a lot of fancy ways to make carrots using pastry bag tips, but it turns out you can make a really cool carrot just using a plastic bag with the corner cut off and “jiggling” it a bit as you draw the carrot. Make the leaves the same way, but cut a smaller hole. If you want to use metal tips, either with a pastry bag or prepackaged tube, try tip #3 for the carrot and #1 or a leaf tip for the leaves.